# Insult to Injury -- FEMA charges Louisiana $3.7B for Emergency Aid **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 4, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535 "2005-11-04T20:24:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/41 "2005-11-06T00:29:03Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > To remove someone who failed in a basic duty that comes with being governor. She obviously can’t do the job. Two hurricanes hit the state, one month apart. Katrina was a Cat 4 and ruined the largest city in the state, also the largest revenue generating area in the state. Rita made landfall about a month later and managed to shut down the Western part of the state while reflooding much of the New Orleans area. So a large portion of the state was closed down for months(much still closed) and it’s causing a huge budget shortfall. It has nothing to do with anyone’s ability to manage a budget, the money simply isn’t there. On top of that, there were hundreds of thousands of people on unemplyment right now(our unemployment system may go bankrupt) and many thousands with no homes. I see them every day, people crying because they have NOTHING, literally the clothes on their backs. So, basically, figure out what the fuck you are talking about before you start condemning people for not being able to do an impossible task. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/42 "2005-11-06T00:29:22Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > I have been paying attention. You’re the one who’s dragged the discussion away from FEMA and whether – and how – Louisiana can be forced to pay the bill it’s been handed. Nope, you’d rather rant about the standard Tighty Righty whipping boys. Clinton is utterly irrelevant to this thread, but you just have to bash away, it’s hardwired into you, isn’t it, you obedient little GOP-bot. Except it isn’t a question of whether or how Louisiana can pay the bill, it’s the law. But you just have to bash away, it’s hardwired into you, you obedient little leftie. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/43 "2005-11-06T00:37:06Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > SHE solicited HIM and he wasn’t her boss. You’re a liar. He was the head of government, so if she worked for the government, even as an intern, he was her boss. Or can Bill Gates molest the janitor without repercussion? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/44 "2005-11-06T00:37:17Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > Except it isn’t a question of whether or how Louisiana can pay the bill, it’s the law. > > But you just have to bash away, it’s hardwired into you, you obedient little leftie. Try reading the post preceding this, it might give you a clue about what’s being discussed, or you can go on mumbling to yourself in the corner. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/45 "2005-11-06T00:40:25Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > You’re a liar. He was the head of government, so if she worked for the government, even as an intern, he was her boss. Or can Bill Gates molest the janitor without repercussion? What a perfectly retarded chain of logic. She didn’t work for him. She wasn’t his intern. SHE was the aggressor. You really need to get over this. America didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/46 "2005-11-06T00:51:14Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Try reading the post preceding this, it might give you a clue about what’s being discussed, or you can go on mumbling to yourself in the corner. Bullshit. It’s the law. Change it if you don’t like it, but there it is. Just to take one example, I haven’t heard Haley Barbour whining about paying Mississippi’s bills. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/47 "2005-11-06T00:55:36Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > What a perfectly retarded chain of logic. > > She didn’t work for him. She wasn’t his intern. SHE was the aggressor. You really need to get over this. America didn’t care. Does the janitor work for the CEO? Yes, the same way ML worked for President Clinton. Oh, and America DID care, he was impeached, like only one other president in history. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/48 "2005-11-06T00:56:16Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > Bullshit. It’s the law. Change it if you don’t like it, but there it is. > > Just to take one example, I haven’t heard Haley Barbour whining about paying Mississippi’s bills. Mississippi wasn’t hit nearly as hard as Louisiana and Blanco isn’t “whining,” she’s saying the state does not have the money. Let me ask you again…what would a GOOD governor do if the state had no ability to pay a bill like this? ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/49 "2005-11-06T01:04:05Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Mississippi wasn’t hit nearly as hard as Louisiana and Blanco isn’t “whining,” she’s saying the state does not have the money. Let me ask you again…what would a GOOD governor do if the state had no ability to pay a bill like this? A good governor wouldn’t have got herself in this situation to start with. I’m sure Louisiana rakes in boatloads of money in taxes, what did she spend it on? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/50 "2005-11-06T01:14:43Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > A good governor wouldn’t have got herself in this situation to start with. Really? A good governor wouldn’t get hit by a hurricane? Thanks for clearing that up. > [@](#): > > I’m sure Louisiana rakes in boatloads of money in taxes, what did she spend it on? This is really too stupid to deserve a response, but FYI, Lousiana is hurting for tax revenue and can’t even pay its projected budget _without_ this FEMA bill. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/51 "2005-11-06T01:20:49Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > This is really too stupid to deserve a response, but FYI, Lousiana is hurting for tax revenue and can’t even pay its projected budget _without_ this FEMA bill. More evidence she’s incapable of doing the job. If LA can’t pay for the budget, why wasn’t it cut? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/52 "2005-11-06T01:58:29Z")
The shortfall in tax revenue was caused by the loss of New Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/53 "2005-11-06T02:04:53Z")
Louisiana ranks 46th of the 50 states in [per capita income](http://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues/07-22-02/Stats%20States_2000_per_capita_%20income.html) [Louisiana tax revenues have been decimated by the hurricanes:](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12573010.htm) > [@](#): > > (Reuters) - Louisiana’s $1 billion tax revenue shortfall, caused by the two hurricanes that ravaged its Gulf Coast, could force it to cut health care programs for its poorest residents and lay off thousands of state workers. > > Hurricanes Katrina and Rita decimated the state’s economy and were expected to push an additional 60,000 people on to Medicaid, the state- and federally funded healthcare program, raising costs for the cash-strapped system by $800 million. > > That influx to the program, which cost $1.2 billion in the state in 2003, could force Louisiana to cut Medicaid benefits by up to 40 percent if the situation does not improve soon. > > [snip] > > Six weeks after Katrina hit and more than three weeks after Hurricane Rita, the state’s tax base remains decimated, especially in New Orleans, which had contributed 30 percent of the state’s revenues before the storms. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/54 "2005-11-06T05:23:41Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Louisiana ranks 46th of the 50 states in [per capita income](http://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues/07-22-02/Stats%20States_2000_per_capita_%20income.html) > > [Louisiana tax revenues have been decimated by the hurricanes:](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12573010.htm) That’s nice, but why should the rest of us have to buck up for their incompetence? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/55 "2005-11-06T05:28:32Z")
What’s “incompetent” about getting hit by a huuricane? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/56 "2005-11-06T05:43:11Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > That’s nice, but why should the rest of us have to buck up for their incompetence? 😃😃😃😃😃 Okay, I get it now, you’re not serious, you’re just seeing how many ridiculously outrageous things you can say before people stop taking your bait. Not even a moron could say stuff like that and actually believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/57 "2005-11-06T05:46:30Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > What’s “incompetent” about getting hit by a huuricane? What’s incompetent is being the governor of a state that can’t pay their own fuckin bills. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/58 "2005-11-06T05:48:28Z")
Which is only approximately 9% of the total. Why can’t they pay 9%? ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/59 "2005-11-06T06:21:58Z")
Thank god Pres. George “Alfred E. Newman” Bush is working so hard to drive this country…into the ground! I’d like to see FEMA collect for every hmoeless man, woman, and child in the Gulf Coast! Ok, America? Where’s your “Moses” now? Oh, I forgot! GW thinks he’s the Almighty himself! Too bad Katrina and Rita didn’t shit exclusively on some insignificant, infamous ranch in Texas! What? Me Worry? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535/60 "2005-11-06T06:35:05Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The shortfall in tax revenue was caused by the loss of New Orleans. No, damn it! The loss of New Orleans was caused by the shortfall from cut Government programs. Go ask the Army Corps of Engineers how to operate within a joke budget, for one! Don’t let your Fed Reps slither off the hook so easily! Make GW & Mr. Cheney start paying up on that FEMA bill when G.W. claims he takes full [fool] responsibility! If negligence is a criminal offense, then appointing an oaf to run FEMA should be the crime of the century for which the people of the Gulf should be treated to seeing all guilty parties hanged for their collective crimes against the general welfare! Hmm, general welfare…has a ring to it, doesn’t it? Where have I heard that before? Seems to me I can recall a sunnier day, (up to G.W.) when our leaders were once sworn to promote the general welfare (ala defend and uphold the Constitution of the US). One thing’s for sure…those initials “G.W.” don’t stand for general welfare…it’s more like “Gee Whiz”! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insult-to-injury-fema-charges-louisiana-3-7b-for-emergency-aid/329535.md?page=4)